Thursday, February 28, 2013

A lot of people like to buy whatever they can for noble reasons, like saving the planet and bringing prosperity to their local economy. Those reasons are all very admirable, but there are some good selfish reasons to buy local as well. Not the least of these is that it might save your life in the near future."How can buying local products, produce and services save my life?" you might say. In order to understand the answer you need to know what, "peak oil", means.I does not mean that there isn't any more oil, it means that it is harder and harder to come out ahead on the energy you use to get that oil out of the ground and ready to use it. We have already used up the oil fields with the easy-to-get-out nice clean oil that burns well without a lot of work to clean it first.Sure there is plenty of oil in the Canadian Tar Sands oil fields. The problem is that it is some of the dirtiest oil in the world. It is also very hard to get the oil out of those tar sands. It can take the equivalent of two barrels of oil in energy to get out three barrels of oil. That doesn't even include refining it so it won't kill your engine if you use it. By the time the Canadian Tar Sands get oil ready to use in your car, we barely get above breaking even in energy. That leaves out the enormous damage getting all of that filthy oil does to the Earth. It ruins vast areas of land, water and air and kills off plants, animals,fish and people in the process. Here is a link to look at what it does:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkwoRivP17A&list=UUBVvvf57HOm5DGhcTew4E2g&index=2

The supply of oil worldwide is not even. Some areas and some people are already feeling the pinch of the oil shortage. My area is one of them. That means, unless you live in an oil exporting area, you should start worrying now. Alaska has been an oil exporter for years. Next year our largest city in the state, will need to find oil to keep the municipal power plant going through our long, cold winter.Right now, the United States government helps with shipping costs for food for the people who live in Alaska. Only a tiny fraction of the food eaten in Alaska is produced here. The rest is shipped from thousands of miles away. The state of Alaska is estimated by our government to have only about three days of food supply on hand.We are in trouble if there is a problem with shipping or prices for it go up much. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that shipping prices will go up very fast and very soon. Our national postal service is cutting delivery days and raising prices because of its own problems. None of this takes into account having our two main political parties playing chicken with the comfort, safety, and even the lives of the rest of us.I was vastly relieve to discover today that other Alaskans are thinking about our supply chain problems in our state. I found this site: http://alaskaflourcompany.com/index.html

They are an Alaskan family who grow and raise wheat and other grains and grind it to sell in our own state. They mention that part of the reason they do this is to help achieve "food independence" for Alaska. We do have farmers in Alaska who grow lots of other foods during the summer, but these are the first I have known of who produce enough grains beyond their own needs. This is what more people need to do worldwide. We all need to work for food independence and stop counting on cheap oil to allow us to ship food, that can be grown locally, thousands of miles instead.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I am posting about a serious health problem that is not very well known even though it is common. This problem is calcification of the pineal gland. Fluoride intake is one of the worst causes of calcified pineal glands.My first awareness of this problem was recent. A video on the internet informed be about it and started me looking to learn more about it. One of the more noticeable effects of having a calcified pineal gland is difficulties with sleep.If you have problems with your sleep, it may be a good idea to find out more about calcification of pineal glands. It is possible this is part of your difficulties with your sleep.There is another major problem caused by calcification of your pineal gland. I believe it is even worse than sleep problems. Many spiritual traditions identify the pineal gland as your "third eye" and say that your pineal gland affects your spirituality. A calcified pineal gland can leave you feeling spiritually numb and cut off. It can stifle and even stop you from having spiritual experiences. One of these kinds of spiritual experiences that you may be missing or limited in is your dreams.

One of the experts wrote that if your pineal gland is calcified you may stop dreaming in color or even remembering, or having spiritual dreams.If you have looked at my blog much you already know that spirituality is important to me. That is why the information above was alarming to me.

None of us need to panic, however. The experts were kind enough to share with us some ways to decalcify our pineal glands. There are three parts to this process. The first one is to take a look at what we are doing to cause calcified pineal glands and stop it. Most of the stuff that we already know is bad for us causes calcified pineal glands.Now you have even more reason to stop smoking, drinking alcohol, drinking caffeine, and eating sugar. Just what you wanted to hear, I know.

Most of the bad habits I just mentioned didn't bother me that much because I already gave most of them up a while back. Now sugar, is a different matter. I still eat some. I don't eat much of it or very often, but it is there.Once you find the culprits that are calcifying your pineal gland, and get rid of them so you don't keep getting worse, you are ready for the next part. That is doing things to decalcify your pineal gland and undo the damage.Two different experts mentioned Organic Blue Ice Skate Fish Oil. I am veggie, so am not going to use it, but if you eat fish, then you might want to find out more about it. I am just giving the basics here, but some links I will give you will help you learn more.One of the remedies you may like is Raw Chocolate. It also stimulates the pineal gland. Some other items mentioned that detoxify your pineal gland are: MSM, citric acid, garlic, raw apple cider vinegar, oregano oil, Neem extract, boron, Melatonin, Iodine, Tamarind, and distilled water (careful with this, it can be bad long term.The last part of detoxifying your pineal gland is exercise. Yoga and certain specific exercises made just for detox of your pineal gland are emphasized.Here is a link that seems to explain what the problem is about calcified pineal glands and how to fix it. I like this site and how it deals with the problem the best of the print sites: http://decalcifypinealgland.com/what-is-the-pineal-gland/

Youtube has videos about calcified pineal glands if you prefer that to reading. You can look around and see which one appeals to you. There are quite a few.

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Here is an update from the United States Food and Drug Administration about a drug for immunization shots:Affymax, Inc. (Nasdaq: AFFY) and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (Takeda) today have decided to voluntarily recall all lots of OMONTYS® (peginesatide) Injection to the user level as a result of new postmarketing reports regarding serious hypersensitivity reactions, including anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening or fatal. The companies have been working actively with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which has indicated its agreement with this decision.Anaphylaxis, the word in bold and darker red, means that it can make you stop breathing. This is a pretty serious recall. You need to know about it and pay attention, since it could kill you.The following quote is from Wikipedia:It is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treatment of anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in adult patients on dialysis.[3][4] On February 23, 2013, Affymax and Takeda issued a press release indicating that they were recalling all batches of peginesatide from the market.I do not know for certain, but am guessing that the above medication is used mostly for people who are getting dialysis. I have known quite a few people who were receiving dialysis for extended periods, sometimes for the rest of their lives. Their health is usually fragile and they certainly don't need a medication causing their health to become worse.I subscribed some time ago to alerts by the United States Food and Drug Administration. Most of them are not very urgent recalls for food items. They are more important for people who store food for emergency preparedness than the general unprepared average person.Most of the time I do not pass along the alerts from the Food and Drug Administration because they are not usually that important to very many people and there can be a huge number of them daily. I made an exception to this habit of not posting many alerts for this one about OMONTYS® (peginesatide) because of the life threatening effects to the people who are likely to receive it.If you are interested in storing some extra food for emergency preparedness, you might do well to subscribe yourself to the FDA's alerts. There can easily be a hundred or more alerts about food recalls, mostly voluntary by the manufacturers, a month. It is a tedious chore checking all of them when shopping, but it is better than finding out the hard way when you really need that food. One shortcut that helps reduce your work, is to use as much organic and natural foods as possible. There are occasional alerts for recalls even among organic and natural foods, but they are much less frequent and usually come because of a common basic ingredient like the peanuts that prompted me to sign up for the alerts. You will not encounter even the peanuts if you eat less prepared foods, most of the time.

Monday, February 25, 2013

This is about an article on local Alaskan TV about legal problems for the Shell Oil drilling rigs. Environmental groups' lawyers say Oil Companies are not capable of safely drilling in the Arctic conditions. Shell Oil wants to drill for oil in a pristine Wildlife Reserve. A great number of birds from all over the world nest in the reserve. Many other creatures live in the wildlife reserve also.Shell has been cited for safety and other violations for both their oil drilling rig and their oil spill boom ship. Both vessels have been plagued with mishaps since they began attempting to drill in the Arctic. The oil drilling rig even ran aground on an Alaskan island and had to be rescued by the Coast Guard. http://www.ktva.com/home/top-stories/Coast-Guard-Pursuing-Criminal-Investigation-Into-Alaskan-Drilling-Ship-185675981.html?strypg=2

Here is a quote from the internet article from CBS News:"Sources tell CBS News that Coast Guard Investigations Service agents and EPA investigators have been meeting with federal prosecutors in Anchorage. Electronic information downloaded from the Noble Discoverer's on-board computers is being reviewed by Coast Guard experts in Washington."Here is another quote from the same source about the violations discovered by inspectors. You will notice there were 23 of them after other problems like an illegal oil discharge were dealt with:On May 21, in Seattle, days before the ship sailed toward the Arctic Ocean, an inspection of the Discoverer found 23 deficiencies, including problems with bilge water management system, ventilation, electric system, and ship's engine.

As if it isn't bad enough that this drilling risks starting WWIII, but they can't even run their vessels safely before they even get into the difficult and dangerous conditions in the Arctic. I have never been so relieved to see savage lawyers on the attack, as the ones for the environmental groups that are fighting this battle.

Here is the NOAA site: http://www.noaawatch.gov/ They changed how the site works. Just look along the right border for the disaster of your choice and it tells you how that one is doing.NOAA also has a hurricane tracker, but this giant storm is not a hurricane, so the hurricane watch won't help you if you are in it. If you happen to want to look at hurricanes, there is a link to one near Florida now.Every time there is a cold weather disaster people die from carbon monoxide poisoning. DO NOT USE AN UNVENTED HEATER INSIDE!!! If that is the only heat you have take it outside away from your doors and windows and heat up bricks and wrap them in towels or blankets to take inside. You can also heat rocks or water to put in a hot water bottle and take those inside.I already posted repeatedly about making a shelter for sheltering in place if you need to stay home during a power outage. This means you need to stack up a lot of fabric, paper, and cardboard around a small area just a little bigger than the body or bodies to occupy it. In order to get warm in there you need 15 to 18 inches of stuff stacked around you. You need something sturdy to hold up all of this insulating stuff over your head. Suggestions I have read are using a chair at either end and then putting a board or broomstick across them. I think a lot of broomsticks might break. It might be better to put at least a couple of them to hold the weight better.The objective of all the above stacking of insulating material is to trap body heat in there to keep you warm. If you have a pet or pets, it is a good idea to take them in there with you even if you are not worried about them suffering from the cold. Dogs and cats put out a lot of heat. Their body temperature is several degrees higher than normal for humans.conditions.

Here is what the Red Cross has to say about how to tell what is happening in your area:

Know the DifferenceWinter Storm Outlook - Winter storm conditions are possible in the next 2 to 5 days.Winter Weather Advisory - Winter weather conditions are expected to cause significant inconveniences and may be hazardous. When caution is used, these situations should not be life threatening.Winter Storm Watch - Winter storm conditions are possible within the next 36 to 48 hours. People in a watch area should review their winter storm plans and stay informed about weather conditions.Winter Storm Warning - Life-threatening, severe winter conditions have begun or will begin within 24 hours. People in a warning area should take precautions immediately.The following is the Red Cross' recommended supplies for Cold weather emergencies:

❏ Water—at least a 3-day supply; one gallon

per person per day

❏ Food—at least a 3-day supply of nonperishable, easy-to-prepare food

❏ Flashlight

❏ Battery-powered or hand-crank radio

(NOAA Weather Radio, if possible)

❏ Extra batteries

❏ First aid kit

❏ Medications (7-day supply) and medical

items (hearing aids with extra batteries,

glasses, contact lenses, syringes, cane)

❏ Multi-purpose tool

❏ Sanitation and personal hygiene items

❏ Copies of personal documents

(medication list and pertinent medical

information, proof of address, deed/lease

to home, passports, birth certificates,

insurance policies)

❏ Cell phone with chargers

❏ Family and emergency contact

information

❏ Extra cash

❏ Baby supplies (bottles, formula, baby

food, diapers)

❏ Pet supplies (collar, leash, ID, food,

carrier, bowl)

❏ Tools/supplies for securing your home

❏ Sand, rock salt or non-clumping kitty

litter to make walkways and steps less

slippery

❏ Warm coats, gloves or mittens, hats, boots

and extra blankets and warm clothing for

all household members

❏ Ample alternate heating methods such as

fireplaces or wood- or coal-burning

stoves

As I already mentioned - do not use those "Ample alternate heating methods such as fireplaces or wood or coal-burning stoves inside unless they are vented. This does not mean to rig up a vent yourself. If this is not safely done by a professional, it can kill you. Carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless and you will never wake up from it."I have not included the current FEMA and other government supplies lists for cold weather emergencies because they are pretty useless. I do have their old lists, which are useful, in early posts. They would be in the early part of 2012 or the last 3 months of 2011. Look at the basic emergency supplies checklists and then compare them to the Red Cross cold weather emergency supplies checklist.If you are freezing your fanny off right now and can't get to the store or the store has already had all the shelves emptied, please stack up your stuff to insulate yourself and scrounge for whatever you can eat in your home. I hope you will put cold weather emergency supplies on your shopping list wherever you live. Mother Nature has gone whacko because of climate change and we no longer can depend on what the weather will do. Be sure to look at my posts about the climate change movement. There are petitions you can sign there to ask Obama to work on climate change. You might be noticing we need that.

Friday, February 22, 2013

As 45,000 protesters marched past the White House to encourage President Obama to get to work on climate change, Obama was playing golf in Florida with Oil company fat cats.This really does not look good for Obama keeping his promises. Ironically, the golf course Obama and his Oil buddies played at will be a casualty of rising ocean waters in the future.Here is a link to an article about the Presidential/Big Oil golf session:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/20/obama-climate-protest_n_2719338.html

This site is by 350, an organization dedicated to working on climate change, so that humans, plants and other living creatures can continue to live on earth.We are very close to being in a feedback cycle where ice melt at the Arctic will release huge amounts of carbon from frozen permafrost ground. This will increase the global temperature very fast. This will melt more permafrost and so on, until the global temperature rise causes worse climate change effects. We are already having massive die-offs of microscopic plants that make more of the world's oxygen than forests do. We need that oxygen to breathe. We also need weather that lets us raise enough food to feed all of the billions of human beings that live on earth. We have already seen what devastation weather can wreak on humans, their dwellings, and cities, but that is nothing compared to what will happen when the weather worsens, so that the most skilled agriculturalist can not raise enough to feed himself and family let alone any other people.The drought in the USA this last summer affected over 60% of our agricultural land. Prices have already jumped, but will probably get much worse until this year's crop is ready to ship and eat. I hate to think of what will happen if this spring, summer and fall are as bad for agriculture.Anyway. Tell Obama we need him to get busy with climate change and that we are ready to do the same.

The link above is to a talk at the University of New England by Bill McKibben. He is the leader of 350 and I believe also the founder.350 is an environmental movement with people in every country in the world except North Korea. The main focus of 350 is to get the word out about the necessity to cut our carbon molecules in our air down to 350. We are currently at 392, so we have some work to do.Doing the carbon reduction is necessary to avoid an out of control feedback cycle of more carbon going into the air due to climate change which will make climate change worse, and so on. Bill McKibben is too cautious to say it, but human life depends on it. Once said feedback cycle gets started, it is unlikely humans will be able to live on the earth much longer. We will not only doom our grandchildren to a miserable existence, but we will cause their deaths and the end of the human race.If you look on youtube, there are other videos by McKibben there and you can always look him and 350 up in a search engine.This is all I have time for right now. I hope you watch the video and others.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

This is a personalized form letter about fracking for oil and gas in the USA and then selling it to other countries. If you read my posts about fracking you already know that fracking is very hazardous for the people who live in the area. It causes swarms of earthquakes and pollutes ground water as well as waterways and causes many other equally horrible problems that ruin land forever.Doing fracking for our own energy needs is bad enough, but doing just to get a small amount of money that doesn't begin to make up for the harm it does is much worse.Since I know how bad fracking is, I had to sign this form computer letter and add my bit as well. They want to do fracking in a pure and beautiful wildlife reserve in Alaska. This fracking is even worse than usual because it also risks starting WWIII by provoking Russia. I already posted about that. We escaped that problem last year because of continuous equipment failures on the part of Shell Oil. They will try fracking in our wildlife reserve again this summer. I believe anyone who wants a chance to stay alive should also write President Obama. He will probably even think about it a little if people from other countries write to him about this. I hope when you read this, you will also go to this link or type it in your browser and then write to Obama also. Here is a link:http://action.sierraclub.org/site/R?i=6GIPXitcfE-Nj2ZHEcM3jAThe text of the form letter and the part I added at the beginning follow:Hi yet again. I think I should get frequent flier miles for writing you. Anyway. This time it is about natural gas. The chuckleheads in charge of AKI resources forgot to even think about Alaskas own gas needs in their rush to get Chinese money. They are in line for having trouble running the power plant in our largest city, Anchorage because of selling gas to China. We need to think of ourselves first. China is doing just fine, thank you. We don't need to wreck our country forever to make a few fast bucks for a very few greedy people. Fight the forces of evil greed. Your name will go down in history either way. It lasts longer than anything you could get paid for selling out.This industry-friendly group only concludes that LNG export is good economics because it focuses on all the money that would flow out of our pockets, going to the natural gas industry and the wealthiest people in our country. The report completely ignores or unfairly dismisses the real costs to hard-working Americans and their communities -- increased costs to heat our homes and businesses; the loss of jobs in industries most affected by LNG exports, including domestic manufacturing; and projected costs associated with environmental destruction due to fracking and healthcare costs for those affected by polluted air and water.The DOE has a responsibility to conduct a complete environmental and economic assessment of LNG exports to truly determine if it is truly to the benefit of the American public. A full environmental impact statement for LNG exports must be conducted, including the impacts in fracked communities. I deserve to know what my real costs will be to us when sending natural gas overseas. Additionally, rules must be put in place to protect our interests before DOE authorizes any exports.That was the end of the form letter. I hope you will either write your own letter or use that one to tell President Obama that you would like for him to stop fracking. The more people that tell him, the better chance we have of changing his mind and giving ourselves a chance for a future at all, and maybe even a chance for a better future.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

There is a horrible thread that runs through the history of the last century or so. People have a government that seems to be running along fine until it takes a turn for the worse and runs amuck and tramples lives and liberties.The Nazi government was the most recent one on a large scale. It was the Nazi Party that took over everything and everyone and began killing anyone who made a convenient scapegoat or got in their way.The government of the USA is the next most likely candidate for this horrible thread. The TSA is the most likely institution to start it. The government as a whole has already began wholesale killings of innocent people, so we do not have much further to go in this process. (Drones and "collateral" damages)

This all really got going with trying to be safe from having more tall buildings blown up by a few terrorists wielding box cutters. We Americans have become so afraid of repeating the World Trade Center disaster, that we have been throwing away our freedom, bit by bit.Now we have an almost out-of-control government agency, the TSA, taking over to remove the rest of our freedom, along with our dignity. First it was small ant bites out of our freedom. We had to stand in line for an extra hour or so every time we flew on a plane. Then we couldn't carry a few things in our carry-on luggage or our persons. Then it was a few more things we couldn't carry on planes.Then we had to take our shoes off. Next we had to submit to either virtual nudity machines that we were assured would never be public. Of course those nudie pics of ordinary dignified people, who wanted to fly on planes got onto the internet. That was a complete surprise, of course. The alternative was a very intrusive groping, often described by former rape victims, as an official rape.Now we can't carry even more stuff, like toiletries, on planes. We can avoid all of this if we want to pay extra money to avoid it. That, of course, ensures that the people who pay extra are not security risks with box cutters looking to blow up tall buildings. That couldn't possibly be a way of making bribe money from people who want to avoid such indignities and violence.The TSA has grown to a very large organization in a very short while. Now it is in charge of most or all of the law enforcement in the USA. They can disappear people without trial and order American citizens executed in another country without consulting any court. (Awlaki and two others were executed by drone attacks.)Torture has been used as a matter-of-fact way to get information, or even just for the entertainment of prison guards. (Abu Ghraib)Americans have been held for years in a foreign country without even being told what they were suspected of. (Guantanamo Bay.)The areas in the responsibility of the TSA have grown rapidly. At first it was only airplanes. Now it has spread to city sidewalks, sports, entertainment and political events, ferries, and trains.Even as recently as the 1960's Americans bragged about how our country was superior to the Communist Russians because they could be stopped and required to present their government papers or be arrested at any time.The Russians are no longer subjected to such infringements on their freedom, but Americans are. This process will not stand still. The power and authority of the TSA will only grow as American freedom shrinks. Americans must wake up and take back freedom before it is all gone.Here is a link to a petition to end the TSA: http://www.chooseliberty.org/tsa.aspx?pid=0216

This is your chance to stand up for freedom and dignity for Americans without firing a shot. I hope you take this chance. We owe it to generations of Americans who said things like, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" They put their lives on the line. We can put our signatures on the line.

Save Democracy. Save a lot of American lives. Tell Obama you don't want our drones making the USA hated the world over. Say you don't want to spend the rest of your life running between bunkers.Drones are easy to make and easy to use. It does not take rocket science to arm a drone and kill people with it. If we continue as we are doing, we will have drone attacks in the USA. Drone attacks are much easier to plan and execute than 911. We may become as nervous about our skies as Pakistanis are now.

This is a link to a drone that shoots: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkHkWy9S4nwNo matter if you are Demmican or Republicrat, it makes no difference. Living safe and free goes beyond party lines and borders. We all want this. Stand up and say you want it.

This is the text of a petition I signed about this. My own personal part is the red letter section. It is connected to the site above: Dear President Obama:I wouldn't want to be you if you let them use that pipeline. You need new advisers if you think starting up the KXL pipeline is a solution to problems. We urgently need to cut back the carbon molecules in our atmosphere to 350 rather than the 392 ppm we currently have, not add more from the dirtiest fuel on the planet. As more people understand how serious this problem is, more and more people will blame you for their troubles in the near future, and as long as there are survivors. A couple of generations have been digging the grave of the human race, but you will get credit for putting up the tombstone, unless you make good on your promises and begin the changes we need to survive.President Obama, in your 2013 inaugural address, you said you would "respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that failure to do so would betray our children and future." Approving toxic-energy projects such as the Keystone pipeline would only respond to that threat by making it worse.Now is the time to move our country forward into a clean-energy revolution. Renewable energy has more potential than ever before. Our leaders must build off that momentum, not ignore it. Current Washington DC weather:http://www.wunderground.com/weather-forecast/US/DC/Washington.html50,000 people attended the rally at its peak during march.The rally is over now. Here is a link to the 350 site: http://350.org/about/science

They plan to have a meeting in Istanbul this June 24-30. They call it, "Global Power Shift". Here is a link to the site for it: http://globalpowershift.org/If you have never been active in a cause before, now is the time. Our lives depend on it.

Friday, February 15, 2013

Yesterday I posted that I am not sure whether it is worth continuing this blog since readers don't pay much attention to my posts about climate change and the environment. There is no point to being prepared for other emergencies if you ignore the one that will kill you no matter what else you do. That one is climate change.Climate change will not go away if we ignore it. It will only stop getting worse faster if we change what we are doing. This will require a whole new way of living. A little change will no longer do. The longer we wait to change, the worse the problem becomes. News people and people they cover say things about how we need to work on climate change for our grandchildren. That is total cr*p. We need to work on climate change for ourselves. More and more of the people who are alive now will be killed by the results of climate change from now on. Maybe you are feeling safe because you have not been hit by a super hurricane, super storm or swarm of tornadoes yet. You had better get over that safe feeling. Those aforementioned weather problems are going to keep getting bigger very fast. They will cover a lot more area. The place you live can become part of where those hurricanes, storms or tornadoes go.If you think you are absolutely certain not to have any of those problems there will be other problems that can still get you. Drought, record heat spells, fires and power outages can reach areas not yet bothered by the storms and tornadoes.There is one problem the news media are not mentioning. It is food. Growing food depends on the weather. You can not raise much food when the weather is totally unpredictable. The drought last year covered 60% of the agricultural land in the USA.Food is one of the major exports of the USA. Last year's drought will have a big effect on food prices worldwide. Prices have already risen from it, but this year will show it worse. This is only the beginning of this problem. Food will become more and more scarce as climate change increases. Prices will go up even if you can get food, so more people will go hungry and starve.There are fewer people raising food for the rest of the human race than ever before. We are very dependent on lots of machinery to raise our food. All of that machinery is adding to our climate change.That isn't even getting into how we ship food clear around the world. It is normal to have food from many different and distant countries on our plates every day.We are eating up our futures. We need to think about tomorrow, now.

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Preparedness for anything else is useless unless we can stay alive on the Earth. Climate change will continue and make it difficult or impossible for the human race to survive on our own planet. We must change our behavior drastically in order to stop Climate change. We must change suddenly, not wait ten years, not wait a year or a month. We must change NOW.Dear Readers, I am feeling very discouraged about writing this blog. Very few of you bother to read anything I write about the environment. Paying attention to my posts about preparedness on other subjects besides the environment and how it is linked to our survival, is pointless.If my readers do not want to read anything about one of the most important subjects that I ever post about, then I must be doing something wrong. Continuing to post under these circumstances is pointless for me. It will be better for me to use my time in other ways. I am going to have to think about whether to continue this blog at all. If I do keep it going, it clearly needs to be different.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

It is time for us to face up to some energy reality. Having no electric power or having it severely rationed and at very high prices will not make your old age pleasant.Not using energy in the first place (reducing energy use) is a form of alternative energy that we are going to have to use at least a little while. Even if we had technology ready for use on a large scale, it takes a while to build the equipment and get it hooked into the existing power grid.People are finding ways to lower their energy use now, but it isn't enough to avoid trashing our environment much worse than we have already done until we get an alternative energy solution going well enough to take care of our needs. I have already posted about fracking and the dangers it brings. It causes terrible pollution of ground water including aquifers that nobody has any idea how to ever clean up once they are polluted. I lived through droughts, including water rationing in two places in California. I also lived in a place in Texas that did not have any water on it and water had to be hauled in and placed in a water tank. Neither of those kinds of situations was pleasant, but those and others like them will become increasing common as climate change increases. We need to stop making our water problems worse.

Fracking to get more fuel for our energy needs has another side effect that we won't like. It has been established that some of the activities that go with fracking cause earthquakes. Not just one or two, but swarms of them. I already posted about that.Chernobyl and Daiichi Fukishima and Three Mile Island nuclear power plant accidents have already shown us that nuclear power by fission has some drawbacks. Nuclear power by fusion is not ready for large scale use yet and is not expected to be before 2030 at optimistic estimates. 2050 is probably a more realistic date for actually using fusion to run our cities and homes.Wind power and solar power on a larger than household scale are in operation in places, but are not making a substantial contribution to our energy needs yet.There are other forms of energy in use in residential or slightly larger projects, but those are not ready for large scale operation yet either.We can do things like strip mining for coal in order to get out every last bit to keep things running until the developing alternative energy technologies kick in, but strip mining costs a lot more than money. It is extremely destructive to a large area. It turns a former fertile land into a desolate wasteland. I posted about that already too.Spending fossil fuels like oil, gas, and coal as if there is no end to them can't go on much longer, no matter what we do to get out every last drop.I hear people saying that they have to think about their grandchildren with how they treat the environment. Unless you are already 70 or older, it won't be only your grandchildren facing the consequences of your energy use.It will also be your children and it will be you. Baby Boomers are facing a miserable old age if we don't save some fuel now.

The link above says the following about genetically engineered foods:"Genetically engineered foods have had foreign genes (genes from other plants or animals) inserted into their genetic codes.Genetic engineering can be done with plants, animals, or microorganisms. Historically, farmers bred plants and animals for thousands of years to produce the desired traits. For example, they produced dogs ranging from poodles to Great Danes, and roses from sweet-smelling miniatures to today's long-lasting, but scent-free reds.Selective breeding over time created these wide variations, but the process depended on nature to produce the desired gene. Humans then chose to mate individual animals or plants that carried the particular gene in order to make the desired characteristics more common or more pronounced.Genetic engineering allows scientists to speed this process up by moving desired genes from one plant into another -- or even from an animal to a plant or vice versa."I am not a big fan of genetically modified food for several reasons. The biggest one is testing, or lack thereof.They make a genetically modified food and whip it right out onto the market in no time. In nature the process takes much much longer to change a plant or food animal than genetic engineering. There is plenty of time to not eat it if there turns out to be problems with the gradual changes.When a genetically modified food, comes right out from under the microscope onto the field and then onto your plate that is really different than the way nature does it. If there is a problem, it happens inside you.One of these problems that has already arisen is allergies. Lots of people have many different kinds of food allergies. Some of those food allergies cause anaphylactic shock. That is when your respiratory passages swell up so much that you can't breathe. If you don't get medical help fast enough, it will kill you.Allergies are a dominant trait. That means that every generation has more people who are allergic. That includes food allergies. Right now, it is not necessary to even label food that has genetically modified food in it. That means that if people have food allergies, they can't even tell what it was that put them into anaphylactic shock. Some people have to eat only organic food to try to avoid eating genetically modified foods with genes spliced into them from unknown other plants or animals. As you may have noticed, organic foods can be rather pricey. This is an unnecessary hardship on people who have food allergies.Most of the rest of the world labels foods that are genetically modified. There is no good reason why the USA can not do the same thing. This can save people with food allergies a lot of pain and trouble. It can even save lives.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Here is the US Department of Energy definition of an alternative fuel:

Alternative Fuel DefinitionThe following fuels are defined as alternative fuels by the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 1992: pure methanol, ethanol, and other alcohols; blends of 85% or more of alcohol with gasoline; natural gas and liquid fuels domestically produced from natural gas; liquefied petroleum gas (propane); coal-derived liquid fuels; hydrogen; electricity; pure biodiesel (B100); fuels, other than alcohol, derived from biological materials; and P-Series fuels. In addition, the U.S. Department of Energy may designate other fuels as alternative fuels, provided that the fuel is substantially nonpetroleum, yields substantial energy security benefits, and offers substantial environmental benefits. For more information, see the EPAct website. (Reference 42 U.S. Code 13211)The last I checked, none of the plant derived fuels were produced very efficiently. The above definition of 85% alcohol mixed with gasoline is deceptive because it does not take into account the other fuels used to produce the 85% alcohol part. Not only does planting, watering, weeding, and harvesting the plant require fuel, but processing it into alcohol takes even more.I don't think plant derived fuels mixed with petrochemicals are much of a bargain as far as climate change goes, so far. Anything that uses pure plant alcohol looks better to me, but most of those are going to come from factory farms. Factory farms are not a real bargain for climate change either.It is ironic that factory farms will have an increasingly difficult time staying in business because of climate change, since they are contributing to it so much.It takes real work to get oil out of plants, especially in large enough amounts to do any good for fuel. It is a whole different scale from producing enough sunflower seed oil to cook with than it is to produce enough to run a truck or generator on.Running a still to produce alcohol for fuel does not seem that efficient unless you use solar or wind power or hydroelectric power.Converting plants into something like oil or alcohol does not seem like a good thing to use for fuel whether you mix it with oil or gas or not. It seems to take too much energy to make it for us to come out ahead by using it for fuel. It seems better to just skip all the processing and burn the plant in the first place. Instructables has some plans for running vehicles on trash or wood. Some internet posts mentioned that during WWII people converted vehicles to run directly by burning plant materials. It didn't sound as if the WWII plant fuel vehicles ran great, but they did run. We might have to do that again soon, since we are choosing to use up the easily available oil and gas right now.I am trying to picture city buses and garbage trucks running around with someone shoveling wood into a furnace. Maybe we won't have to picture it much longer, but will get to see it up close.

There are some real clinkers in the story of the woman who was allegedly bitten by the dog. I think she was actually bitten by her own pit bull and claimed that it was Dutch in order to get money from his disabled veteran owner.I think that if they check the bite marks, they will show that they are from her pit bull instead of Dutch. The "bitten" woman also claimed to have only struck Dutch once with a metal pole that bent immediately. This is not consistent with Dutch's injuries. If Dutch had been in a dog fight with a pit bull, he would have had numerous and severe bite marks on him. It is more likely that he was trying to protect the woman from her own dog.The damage inside the house seems inconsistent with what the woman claims. It is more likely that she damaged it herself or let both dogs in and then she hit one or more dogs with pieces of furniture. I believe her claim that she barricaded herself inside her bedroom for fear of further attacks by Dutch is also unlikely. The city animal control official said himself that he had never seen multiple attacks by a dog from one attack by a person on the dog. I think she called her boyfriend to get a witness to collect damages. I think $24,000.00 is somewhat excessive for bandages, and antibiotic and maybe a splint even from emergency. It isn't as if she was in intensive care. The size of the claim is suspicious for someone only interested in expenses.The expert witnesses on Dutch's behalf show that he does not have the personality to do as claimed by his former owner.I hope readers will sign the petition and call or write the city officials to help save this poor disabled veteran's dog.

Friday, February 8, 2013

Making sure your microwave is safe is not hard to do, but most people never question that it might not be. If your microwave starts leaking, it can be very bad for your health and others who are around it. There are inexpensive testers that will let you know whether your microwave is safe.I am giving you a link to one that costs just under $40.00 American. It checks to see whether all four zones are working okay and you can also check outside to see if the seals are leaking. Here is the link: http://www.toolexperts.com/micro-check-microwave-leak-detector-tester.html

You can place the dish to be tested inside the microwave and turn the microwave on for a few seconds. If you see any arcs or sparks inside the microwave, turn off the microwave immediately. The dish has also failed if it starts smoking or anything else that looks bad. My preference for this test is to plug the microwave into a power strip with an on/off switch. I turn off the microwave from a safe distance if the dish inside fails the test. I use a broom handle to turn it off.The above test is probably not a good idea, but I sure am not paying an expert to test every potential microwave dish in my home. Some glass dishes have a small amount of metal in them and should not be used in a microwave. I have even run across some that were labelled as microwaveable. Ergo, another test. You put some water in the glass dish and heat it in the microwave for one minute. Take the dish out and see whether the water is hot, but the dish is cool. If so, the dish passed the test. If the dish is hot and the water is hot, the dish flunked. Do not use that dish in the microwave.If you have mugs or other dishes decorated with metallic designs, it is pretty sure they will not be microwave safe. You can save yourself the trouble of testing them and just not use them in the microwave.I took a class in how to use a microwave a long time ago. It emphasized "standing time". This is about the time after the microwave oven stops operating, but the microwaves are still bouncing around inside the food you just cooked. Those bouncing microwaves in your food are still cooking the food even with the oven turned off. You are supposed to let the food, "rest", do "carryover cooking time", or do "standing time". If you eat the food while it should be sitting while it finishes cooking, that extra cooking can be going on inside you. You could be cooking your insides. I don't like this idea, so I like to pay attention to the "standing time" rule of thumb estimate for how long to let the food sit and cook by itself before I eat it. I was told by a professional home economist, with a college degree in home economics science, that it is safer to allow about as long as the microwave cooking time plus half again, for standing time.There are a couple of other things to watch out for in microwave cooking. One is uneven cooking. If a recipe tells you to stir at certain intervals, do it. If you do not follow the directions it can ruin your food or even make you sick.The other problem is with cooking times and the food not reaching a high enough temperature to kill bacteria. This can be caused because your recipe was made for a different power of microwave than yours. The way to solve this problem is a bit too long for this blog post, so I am giving you a link to a site which tells you how to solve your microwave problem. The site is on, "About.com", and it is for a cooking "guide" on the site. She is excellent at her job: http://video.about.com/busycooks/Cooking-With-a-Microwave-Tips.htm

It is a bad idea to attempt do-it-yourself microwave repair. Let an expert do it. They earn their pay with the risks they take.Microwave ovens actually save energy when you cook things in them that do not take a long time to cook. The longer you cook something in a microwave, the less energy efficient they are. Your Thanksgiving Turkey is probably better done in the regular oven if you are interested in saving energy.I was reluctant to begin using a microwave oven a long time ago when I was gifted with my first one. I took the class to learn how to use it right and be safe with it. I used it for many years.Friends have convinced me that microwaves may be as unhealthy for cooking your food as I originally suspected. I have again stopped using a microwave oven. I barely miss it since I have come up with substitutes for it. I also have another reason for not wanting to use a microwave all the time. Electric power in a TEOTAWKI scenario could be rare. If I use a microwave all the time, it will make cooking in the aforementioned scenario, more difficult. I think things could be quite difficult enough without adding problems knowing how to cook the food that is available.One of these is bamboo steamer baskets. They are more efficient when you want to heat up several dishes at the same time in a stack of dishes over the same heat source. They do not take long to cook or re-heat food on them.I also use a griddle on a burner on the stove top for things like tortillas, thin slices of bread and melting cheese on something.I don't know whether I will continue with my self-imposed ban on microwaves, or if so, for how long. For now, it makes me happy.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

Sniper attacks seem to be very "in" lately. Every time I look at any news, there is a new sniper attack somewhere. Since most sniper attacks result in one or more persons being killed and or injured, besides the sniper, the chances of my dear readers facing this problem are going up. I would rather none of you be killed by a sniper, therefore this post will provide you tips on how to avoid death or injury by a sniper.I'm starting with ideas from an expert on how to reduce or prevent casualties on incidents in schools. Instead of having them simply huddle in a corner and provide an easy target, it was suggested having them huddle in a corner covered by a blanket that repels bullets. The expert also suggested that school locks be changed to magnetic locks and doors be made stronger so that they can not be destroyed and entered by snipers as easily as they can now. Here is a link to the article so you can learn more if you like: http://spectator.org/archives/2012/12/17/preventing-school-massacres/1

I found you more sites about how to survive shooting or sniper attacks. They agree about some things and not others. I think the disagreement is mostly about what kind of attack is happening to you.If you are outside and do not know where the shooting is coming from it is different than an inside attack when you can see the shooter and know where he, or they, are.If you are outside and don't know where the shooting is coming from, the best advice seems to be to start moving, but don't move in a straight line to make yourself an easy target. It was also suggested that you move as fast as you can. The writers seem to agree that it is best to head for something to block you from sight and firing line of the shooter.Suggestions are getting inside away from windows and doors, or under a vehicle because most snipers are up high and won't be able to see you there. Most of the suggestions deal with indoor shootings that are a more direct confrontation than a sniper. Schools are mentioned a lot. The most authoritative sounding author gave suggestions based on what kind of action you want to take, attack the shooter or evade. This site is here: http://www.secretsofsurvival.com/survival/school_shooting.htmlThis one gives a new meaning to seating choice in the classroom.

I have not yet found advice from a really authoritative source on how to survive a shooting attack, either sniper or a direct attack. When I find some, I plan to post more on this subject, but this is what we have to go on for now.

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

I have been very concerned about the use of technology by the government in ways that are a grave threat to the freedom of citizens of the USA. This article in a paper in another country, the UK, explains some of it:"Speaking to the New York Times, Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's national security project, denounced the memorandum as 'a profoundly disturbing document', adding: 'It's hard to believe that it was produced in a democracy built on a system of checks and balances. It summarises in cold legal terms a stunning overreach of executive authority: the claimed power to declare Americans a threat and kill them, far from a recognised battlefield and without any judicial involvement.'Here is a link to the Guardian article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/05/obama-administration-us-al-qaida

Every Tom, Dick, and Harry either has,, or plans to soon have their own drones in American skies. Right now, they are just for watching. Weaponizing them is ridiculously easy. With such moral flexibility from the last two US government administrations it is clear that we should be very uneasy with drone traffic gridlock approaching in our skies.Both Democrats and Republicans appear to be equally crazy. Democrats want to take away arms from citizens for fear of crazy people using them and give them to an even crazier government. Republicans want to arm our teachers. That is taking educational discipline to extraordinary levels. I can see it now, "Timmy, this is your second warning. One more spit wad in class and you're dead."The excesses of Republicans are clearly visible to Democrats, but they are blind to what their own party leaders do. The Republicans reverse that.The only logical solution is to practice bipartisan extraordinary rendition on the next session of both houses of congress and send them all to prison in Syria along with the current administration. We can replace our current parties with Greens versus Libertarians. Then we can surely get more business done.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

The state I live in, Alaska, recently made me very proud by going online with its first serious wind power generation. It is called Fire Island Wind. It produces 4% of the power provided to customers of the power company that runs it.They hope to offset more building and operating costs by selling Renewable Energy Credits and are now offering them for sale. Here is their site: http://chugachelectric.com/inside-chugach/projects/fire-island-wind-powerYou tube has videos showing how some people built their own wind turbines, so that you can make one also. Many of these are free to watch and learn from. Several of them tell you how to get started at little or no cost.A common problem for people who want to use wind power is not enough wind at their location. There are some ways to solve this difficulty. One is through the use of sails instead of propellers. These will get the motor turning at a relatively low wind speed. Another way, that I do not understand very well, because of my low tech abilities, is low R.P.M. motors. Since I have checked into people power for power generation also, I have a small amount of understanding that I would not have otherwise. When you get a motor started to charge a battery, it needs to get going fast or there will be a reverse charge and you will actually drain your battery. For some arcane reason, when you put an electric light bulb into your circuit for using a bicycle to charge a battery, this prevents the battery drain.Another way to stop this battery drain is to use a flywheel on the bicycle to get the R.P.M.s up. I gather this is like using gears to increase your effective power.I believe you can do something similar to work with low wind speed to have wind power work for you.There were a couple of problems that the videos on You Tube showed. One is that you need to be very careful once you have a propeller. As soon as it catches some wind it can kill you. One you tube video maker decided to test his propeller by holding it in the back of a moving truck. Not a good idea. He survived that test, but it could have killed him and he knew it.One man who made a video hinged his mast so that when gale force winds were coming he could lay it down flat to prevent damage. I believe this is better than simply detaching it from your electrical system. Since tornadoes and hurricanes or monsoons are increasing worldwide, it could be too costly to replace your propeller every time it gets hit by high winds.One you tube video showed how to cut your own propellers from a large piece of PVC tubing. I think this is an efficient and economical way to get sturdy propellers. It would require that your craftsmanship be very good, however. Most people would probably need to buy propellers. There are vendors on ebay that sell wind power equipment. Some of them look fairly reasonable in price.Prices change very rapidly in alternative power equipment, so it is useless to offer you links for those. It will be necessary for you to search and compare prices to get the best deal for your time and location.

Monday, February 4, 2013

The problem of anemia for women did not use to be as widespread as it is today. The reason for that is our cookware. Most of us use some sort of non-stick coated pots and pans. It is those pans that we have used to cause the problem with anemia.The simple solution is to use cast iron cookware. You don't even have to use it for all of your cooking. One pan that you use every day will do the job of getting rid of anemia.When you cook in cast iron cookware a small amount of iron leaches out of the cast iron pot, pan or skillet into the food being cooked in it. That small amount of iron in your food every day is enough to stop you from becoming anemic most of the time. One of the reasons we stopped using cast iron cookware is that we don't want to do any pot scrubbing. Once you season your cast iron cookware, it isn't much more trouble to take care of than non-stick cookware. You do need to wash it right away when you use it and not use soap on it unless you want to season it again. It is a lot less trouble to wash out one cast iron pan than it is to be sick and anemic. When you are anemic, your immune system is weak and you seem to catch every stray disease that goes by. Feeling tired and listless from being anemic is not fun either. Between having colds and flu all the time and feeling tired even when you don't have a cold or the flu, it is hard to have a life when you are suffering from anemia.Becoming extremely anemic can be life threatening. Once you are anemic enough, your body stops processing some of the food that you eat and it gets into a cycle that just keeps getting worse. When you are that anemic, it is called pernicious anemia, or Biermer's or Addison's Anemia.The part of your food that your body stops processing is vitamin B12. This vitamin is necessary to make good red blood cells. If you don't have good red blood cells your body will not get enough oxygen where it needs it. That is why you get tired when you are anemic. You are not getting enough oxygen throughout your body.Here is a link to an article about pernicious anemia: http://www.medicinenet.com/pernicious_anemia/article.htm

This article talks about doctors giving people with pernicious anemia vitamin B12 shots. I have been sseverly anemic several times and my doctor perscribed some pills for it. The pills had horrible side effects. Your solid wastes turn black and you get horribly constipated. I used to bleed when I used the toilet from using that medicine. If you get so anemic that your doctor wants you to take vitamin B12 shots or the pills, you had better let him (her), or you can die. That is what used to happen to people who had pernicious anemia in the past.Once you are better from your anemia, you might like to try the cast iron pan, pot or skillet. Washing out one pot every day is a lot better than getting shots or taking pills that make you constipated, and getting sick and tired all the time.

Friday, February 1, 2013

The Doomsday Clock sounds pretty ominous. That means it has a good name for its purpose. It was created by scientists who helped make the first atomic bombs. They wanted to make people pay attention to the new dangers that the world faced at that time. Since then other serious dangers have been added to the Doomsday Clock, like climate change.The people who run the Doomday Clock have a bulletin about it called, "The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists". Here is what they say the Doomsday Clock is for: "The Doomsday Clock conveys how close humanity is to catastrophic destruction--the figurative midnight--and monitors the means humankind could use to obliterate itself. First and foremost, these include nuclear weapons, but they also encompass climate-changing technologies and new developments in the life sciences that could inflict irrevocable harm."They change the time on the Doomday Clock according to how close to "Midnight", or the destruction of the human race they think we are. Right now they have it set at five minutes to midnight. They just moved it a minute closer to midnight recently because of the way world nuclear powers are not working very hard on nuclear disarmament. Most people not doing anything much about climate change is not helping move the hands on the Doomday Clock further away from midnight either.The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists has moved the hands on the Doomsday Clock as close as two minutes to midnight. I believe they should have had them at least that close last summer. I posted about that. We will have the same problem this summer, except probably worse. I intend to email and maybe write and do other kinds of contact attempts to ask them why they didn't move the hands closer last summer and if they are going to do the same this summer.Russia's leaders have said they think that WWIII will start over the oil, gas and minerals in the Arctic. Russia planted their flag on the ocean floor under the North Pole in the Arctic. They also filed for ownership of the North Pole with the United Nations.Last summer the US sent a Shell Oil Ship to begin drilling in the Arctic. They plan to put an oil rig there along with others. They plan to drill in the part of the Arctic that is offshore from Alaska, part of the United States. However, the Shell Oil ship and others that will join it will be fracking. This means they plan to run pipelines sideways out further from the Alaskan coast.

I believe Russia could regard this sideways drilling as a provocative act and as aggression against their property claims. In case you don't already know, George Bush announced during his presidential term that he was unilaterally ending the nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia. He said that the US will make more nukes instead of taking apart some of the ones we already have.The Russians said, at first, that they would continue with their nuclear disarmament in spite of the USA breaking the treaty. After a while news stories made it look as if they thought better of taking apart their nukes while the USA was making more nukes again.President Obama has not said anything to show that he intends to reinstate nuclear disarmament on the US end of the defunct treaty with Russia. He is talking about treaties, however. As you can tell from the Washington Post article, nuclear disarmament on the part of the USA is not necessarily a popular idea.Since news stories have shown that Russia and China have gotten cozy with each other as allies lately and China has rapidly increased their supply of nukes, it looks like we have a more serious nuclear problem than has been acknowledged.I am experiencing some bad computer difficulties, so have not placed links and quotes next to relevant comments, as I usually do. I am going to put them all here at the end of this post. I hope to have the computer issues resolved by posting time on Monday, February 4th.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/06/AR2007080601369.html

Here is a quote from the Washington post article from 2007: "TORONTO, Aug. 6 -- A dramatic submarine dive to plant the Russian flag on the seabed at the North Pole last week has rattled Canadian politics and underscored the growing stakes as the ice cap melts in the oil-rich Arctic."Here is a link to an article about how many nuclear weapons China has. The estimates range from several hundred to over 3,000. The article says that the USA is losing in the nuclear weapons as deterrence because the infrastructure and personnel required to maintain, replace, and update them are shaky. Other things I have read do not agree with this, and estimate the USA as having over 5,000 nuclear weapons. Theoretically this number of nuclear weapons would be enough to kill over half of the population of Russia, if they were not protected by adequate shelters. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/28/china-builds-nuclear-arsenal-while-rest-of-the-wor/The estimates I have read on the number of Russian nuclear weapons is 70,000 to 80,000. I think this must be inflated because during the Russian change of government, soldiers were not paid and military infrastructure was not maintained. Russia has had enough prosperity since to work on that problem.My apologies for not giving you as many links as usual for this post. If your computer is working, they are easy to find, however. Pick your favorite search engine and go for it if you are interested in finding out more about this.